Exploring the Quabbin Watershed
On August 24, members of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, RESTORE: The North Woods, and Save Massachusetts Forests recently led an educational walk on the Quabbin Watershed public lands. Bill Stubblefield, Michael Kellett, and Janet Sinclair pointed out the features of both an undisturbed forest and a recent logging site.
The idea of the presence of invasives such as poison ivy along logging roads versus native vegetation, such as the Joe Pye Weed (photo above) being where the land was left intact, was evident as we walked what was sometimes a logging road and, at other times, an old stone-wall-bounded town road long ago taken for the Quabbin Reservoir.
The towns of Dana, Prescott, Enfield, and Greenwich were destroyed to create a massive water supply for Boston, the Quabbin Reservoir. Now, its forested watersheds constitute an almost-wilderness. We hope to protect it from the logging that has been the state’s signature program to maintain water quality. Many aspects of this program are questionable, from where the wood goes, to who benefits, to how effective it is in protecting water quality.
After the walk, about 10 hikers took a 3 – 5-mile hike through a beautiful northern hardwood forest from the Enfield Tower down to the waterfront. We could see how the forest was developing into a mature forest and imagine what it could be like if left alone.
Laurel Facey, Wendell State Forest Alliance |
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